Chapter 18: A Not So Easy Internship

As Celia enters through the doors of the Terrastock headquarters, she’s met with a set of security gates that required an ID to get through.

According to Han, he updated my ID so that it should work on these scanners, she recalls

There were multiple forms of identification that Celia had available to her, ranging from retinal scans to fingerprints. Such data was collected when it was time to obtain an ID, and a digital identification card was generated so that fingerprint and retinal scanners across the world can be used to identify someone.

However, Celia, like a few others, found that having an ID card was the easiest choice. Retinal scans took too long and while most people chose the fingerprint option since it was the fastest and always available, she didn’t like the buzzing feeling on her fingers when she placed them on the scanners. To her, ID cards were only slightly more of a hassle anyway, and it was still pretty efficient just to swipe or scan the card on the machine.

Since IDs were digitalized and stored in a global data bank, places that needed ID checks to enter were all streamlined into using that global ID system instead of having to have separate ID cards for everything. All it took to grant someone access to something was a simple permission change in the ID system, and all forms of identification including retinal and fingerprints can be used to enter.

Celia quickly approaches the scanners, and taps her card on it, relieved to see that it let her through. She was already having a bad morning and didn’t know what she’d do if the one thing that was supposed to work, didn’t.

As Celia enters the lobby, she takes a moment to admire how spacious and wide it was. From what she could tell, the entire giant spherical part of the headquarters was the lobby and visitors area. People could purchase a time slot to take a quick guided tour through it, which seemed to double as a sort of museum.

Display cases showcasing various rocks and minerals, each essential to the alloying of Terrasteel, lined the walls. Each exhibit featured a golden plaque detailing the material's properties and role in the alloy. On the side, a separate section of the lobby highlighted the company’s history, complete with photographs of its founders and past leaders, and at the center of the room was a long black table with both human and robot receptionists.

On each side of the table was a pair of elevators that led straight to the main office areas of the headquarters which were split into the two tall buildings of the structure. Celia was given a room number and floor to meet on, but didn’t know which of the two office buildings it was located in.

After checking in and asking a receptionist, she takes the elevator on the right to the 44th floor and heads to the designated room number.

Upon opening the door, she’s met with a large meeting room, however, only one person sat at the head of the table, but it wasn't Han Xu. Instead it was a darker skinned, middle aged, Asian lady that looked to be from the southeastern parts of the Silk Axis. She had black wavy hair with a streak of brown down her right side and was dressed in a formal business attire.

“Hello! You must be Celia,” the lady kindly greeted her, “Mr. Xu told me a lot about you, and how you saved him from being chewed out even more by our boss. My name is Malaya Ramos and I’m Mr. Xu’s coworker. Unfortunately he’s a bit busy today, so I’ll be the one delegating the task to you.”

Celia nodded and said, “nice to meet you Mrs. Ramos.”

“So to recall what this internship is, just so that we’re on the same page, this ‘internship’ is actually more of a commission than a real internship,” Malaya explained, “you won’t really be working at this company, but instead you’re here to provide us an innovative solution for one of the few problems we have. You have a month at most to come up with a working solution for at least one of the problems, and you’ll receive a massive bonus paycheck if you succeed but no penalties if you don’t. You’ll have access to most parts of this building as well as access to our few factory locations across Shanghaijing to assist you in coming up with a solution. If you have no problems with this so far, I can list out the problems we have for you to solve.”

Celia firmly nodded her head.

I’ve got this, she tells herself.

“Great!” Malaya said, “Our main goal is to reduce the cost of production and we have come up with three ways to do it that you’ll be in charge of filling in the details of. Here at Terrastock, we use massive metal synthesizers made out of titanium to mass produce Terrasteel from its alloys. The first problem is that these metal synthesizers break down within about a week due to overworking them, and slowing down production isn’t really a business decision we want to follow. We typically have to bulk buy new metal synthesizers from another company at the start of every month, which is where most of our budget goes into. Obviously, they don’t intend to upgrade the metal synthesizers’ durability without charging us more for them, so your first option is to find a way to improve the metal synthesizers they give us so that we can replicate that method ourselves and become less reliant on them.”

Celia nodded again.

“The second option is to figure out a way for us to create metal synthesizers ourselves in a way that’s cheaper than buying them from the other company,” she continued, “and lastly, your third option is to figure out a way to make Terrasteel with less resources. Any of these three options will reduce the cost of production, and all you need to do is figure out one way to implement them. A successful implementation means reducing the cost by any amount, and we’re willing to take most ideas into account. Remember that you have access to most of our facilities as well as access to viewing our current shipment of metal synthesizers for the month. If you have any questions or need help accessing any of the facilities, feel free to contact me or Mr. Xu, or ask them now.”

Celia shook her head and said, “I don’t have any questions off the top of my head right now, but I’ll probably have some after exploring the place. I’ll be sure to let you guys know if anything comes up.”

I’ve got this, she reassures herself again, her mind flooding with dozens of solutions off the top of her head, and I’ve got access to lots of things. I should be able to figure this out within a week.

“Great! Then I’ll leave you to it,” Malaya replied, closing the meeting.

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I don’t got this, I don’t got this, I don’t got this, I don’t got this, I don’t got this, Celia tosses and turns on the bed of her hotel room as she tries to think up more ideas after every single one of her initial ones failed.

An entire week had passed with no success yet and she was right back to where she started.

What was I thinking?  she wondered, of course it was going to be a lot harder than this. Find a way to create Terrasteel with less resources? What do they think I am? A metallurgist?! A way to create metal synthesizers in a cheaper fashion? I don’t even know how they’re made! I build robots not giant machines! My best shot right now is to improve the durability of them but I don’t even know the first thing about how they’re made so it’s not like I can easily do that either.

She looks over to the pile of books about metal synthesizers she bought with a variety of topics ranging from their history to their construction that she had left on the table. She had been cramming information about them ever since her initial ideas failed and she realized she needed more context about them after seeing what real industry-grade metal synthesizers looked like, but she had trouble understanding a lot of the words used.

This is pointless, she thinks as she looks at the stack, but it’s not like I can give up without trying. At the same time however, reading the same book over and over again without understanding anything isn’t going to do me any good either.

She rolled over to the other side of the bed, looking towards Tabby who was resting on the window.

Tabby hadn’t been too much of a help either. She could use him to analyze the metallic makeup of the metal synthesizers, but she already knew it was mostly just titanium, mainly because Malaya had told her so.

As Celia was lost in a sea of thoughts, she suddenly gets a notification on her phone. 

It was from Hikaru.

“Hey Celia! We’ve made it to Sector Sichuan!”

“Unfortunately, the space center doesn’t seem to be here anymore, but we did take some pictures of the place so you don't miss out on much!”

“We’ll be heading to Tokyosaka next, and I’ll update you when we get there.”

Below the text messages were a string of random pictures that he took with Alto and Kyomi, each doing goofy and silly poses in front of an empty barren land with a few thin trees.

Come to think of it, it has been a week now hasn’t it? They’ve already started their journey to the Silk Axis as well…

She flips through the silly pictures and snorts a little.

I wonder when Hikaru got comfortable enough around me to start sending stupid pictures like this, she wondered, we started off as just teammates, but did we spend enough time working together that he’s able to see me as a friend now?

She stares up at the ceiling, lost in another train of thoughts.

A friend huh?  She pondered, a real one too. One that shares the same interests as me. One I can talk to about my interests without feeling weird. One that’s not based on our academic association but rather a shared dream… Perhaps I’m taking this project a little too seriously…

Celia looks over to Tabby again.

Everyone’s counting on me to get this commission right, she says to herself, but it’s not like they’ll get mad at me if I don’t succeed either… It'll be a slight inconvenience in our plan, but we started this project knowing it won’t be a quick one — unless we get caught early — but a successful end goal was always far away. That doesn’t mean I get to give up however; I still need to at least make an effort.

She sits up on the bed, straightening out her hair before preparing to go out.

I should get some fresh air first before I continue studying, she resolves herself, I didn’t go on this journey just to hole myself up in a room again just like before.

Giving Tabby a quick tap on the shoulder, she jumps out of bed and leaves the room.